RE: Curating the Internet: Science and technology digest for March 7, 2020
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Hi,
In this issue of Curating the Internet I was particularly taken with the article on dogs. Dogs have always been important to me, and I've lived with every sort...all of them adopted. Still, I was amazed at some of the findings in the article---fear of surfaces and heights!?
I think it would be helpful to know the home situations of the dogs in the survey. Do they have plenty of room to wander around? Are they exercised outdoors freely? Do they have companions?--another pet, for example.
I did a brief search and found one study that correlates a dog's stress level with the stress level of the human companion. I found another really cruel study (on beagles of course) that shows the stress-inducing effects of social and spatial restriction.
I know the article ends on this note...looking at environmental factors that might reduce stress, but I would have liked to read more about that here.
Once again, a very interesting article. It's got me thinking about dogs I've known and their (obviously) neurotic behavior.
Thank you!
Thanks for the comment and the additional research!
I always enjoy the dog articles, too, and I was also surprised by fear of heights. It never occurred to me that a dog would experience that particular fear.
Those two links were interesting finds, and they raise good points about stress-contributions from environmental factors and the emotions of the owner. Especially when you think about working dogs that were intentionally bred to be good at interpreting human cues and performing specific activities like hunting or herding that are very different from their lives as domestic pets.
Also, I have to admit that I was (am) a little skeptical of generalizing from an online survey from a small country like Finland. It's interesting, but I'm not sure how conclusive it is, so I appreciate the additional references.
Hi,
I had the same thought about animals that have been bred for specific purposes. Domestication probably led to selective, natural adaptation of dogs to accommodate humans. Then we genetically 'designed' them to exaggerate dependence. So,we can see how dogs would be acutely tuned to our moods (and neuroses).
As limited as this study may have been, I found it enlightening. I'm still dazzled by the heights and surfaces thing. All the dogs I've ever adopted had complicated backgrounds, so they tended to be neurotic in a number of ways...which is in agreement with the finding of 'co-morbidity' described in the article.
Still, my husband and I have found that in time, love and acceptance can work miracles, even with 'damaged' animals. They may not be perfect, but they settle down and return the love.
Thanks for an interesting conversation.
AG
I just realized that you may not have seen a couple related posts from back in January, so I thought you might also be interested in these, too. Or at least in the video embed...
The top article says, "The first goal is to deal with separation anxiety, in a trial with San Francisco SPCA." The second doesn't really say much, but this video was included in both of them:
Like you said before, putting together pieces of a puzzle. ; -)
I finally checked out those references. Thank you!
Intuitively, I say,"No", but it might work for the right dog. People become intense when training and that interferes with success, think. We did have a deaf dog once that was impossible to control, so we actually paid a trainer to come to the house. She said the dog was brain damaged! The most she could do was offer us techniques to try and mitigate some of the worst behavior. That poor dog didn't live very long.
Anyway, interesting concept and I might try it with a more "normal" dog, if I had the extra change and needed help. BTW, the human trainer was less expensive.
Take care,
AG